Topic:
Henry John Brunt

Topic type:

Henry John Brunt (Service no. 43948) was a First World War soldier with links to New Brighton

Henry John Brunt was born on 14th December, 1882.

He grew up in Linwood and then New Brighton, and became a self-employed builder like his father, Joseph, who had come from England, and who lived at Park Rd, and then Stanmore Rd. Henry’s mother, Margaret, died in 1904. Both parents are buried in Block 32 Plot 196, Linwood Cemtery, Christchurch.

Henry had 6 siblings. He was of average height, and had light brown hair and grey eyes.

He enlisted in November 1916, and left New Zealand on 5th April 1917, bound for England, and the training camp Sling Camp on the Salisbury Plain. In early July he went to France, starting off in the New Zealand camp at Étaples. He then went onto the field and fought with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion.

He was killed on the field in the battle for Passchendaele, in a big Allied defeat at Bellevue Spur, on 12th October, 1917. He was 34.

Henry was buried in the Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

His brother, Romney Joseph Brunt, went to war after him, and survived.